Donington: Piccini, Deletraz race notes

Technical problems for Andrea Piccini and Jean-Deniz Deletraz characterized the fifth round of the International FIA GT Championship on the Donington track this weekend. Piccini and Deletraz battled with technical inconveniences which in the end limited them to the 13 place.

After the free practice session on Friday, Andrea tackled the qualifications on Saturday with 30 kg of success ballast imposed on him for his second place win in Brno. The Tuscan driver set off in the seventh place on the starting grid.

During the first exciting 30 minutes of the race, Andrea managed to overtake his opponents and inherited the second place (right in front of Campbell ­ Walter's Lister Storm) in no time.

Then the technical problems arose and influenced the race: blisters on the back left tire, broken brake pliers on the front left tire and the front right tire that came out left Andrea Piccini's car with only 4 wheels.

Andrea Piccini:
"The qualifying session went relatively well: the seventh place isn't that bad if you count that we had 30 kg of handicap weight. We wanted to try out different and new disc brakes but we understood that the car wasn't going very well. We therefore went back to the traditonal brakes. Without this problem, I could have cut down on some decimals and could have gained one or two positions on the grid .During the first ½ hour of the race I had a lot of fun. With a great engine at hand, I overtook all of my adversaries and emerged in the second position. Unfortunately, from that moment on, the problems started: the back tires started to terrifyingly slip and made me go off track a few times (there were a lot of blisters on the back left tire ). During the third session everything that could happen, happened, I lost the front right tyre and the brakes pliers on the right left tyre broke.

As soon as I got to the pit box, the boys were able to changes a piece but by then I was 6 laps behind. I wanted to get back on the track even though I knew that the race had already been decided and albeit that I was one of the fastest drivers.

What a pity! If it hadn't been for these problems, we could have been without a doubt on that podium."

-gpg-